Earlier this year I met someone who works for a ‘tobacco addiction group’.
That’s not a group of smokers getting together for high tea, rather the opposite.
This person works in Oxford in an organisation which is part of or affiliated with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences in the Medical Sciences Division.
I asked her why she was working there, and she responded by saying what a strange question that was. She then replied, ‘I want to help people’.
I said that was a strange response, considering how many smokers have been hindered rather than helped by the likes of her and everyone else in Tobacco Control.
Before I get into detail, my British readers will be wondering if this woman has ever met Debs Arnott from ASH. No, she hasn’t but has ‘heard of her’.
This woman really does live in a bubble along with the rest of her colleagues not only in Oxford but around the world. She said:
- Smokers were free to smoke — no one was stopping them;
- She did not feel that enough smokers knew tobacco and nicotine were harmful;
- She has not seen the graphic made-up or otherwise falsified (e.g. neck tumour) photos on cigarette packets: ‘Why would I look at those?’;
- She did not know about the meme — see cigarette packets — that male fertility and libido are supposedly harmed by tobacco; never mind that when smoking was at its peak we had the Baby Boom;
- She did not know that rented accommodation in the UK is nearly all non-smoking and has been for nearly 15 years;
- She is happy that all UK hotel rooms are non-smoking;
- She doubted whether much-touted smoking-cessation prescription drugs caused suicide or depression;
- She is delighted with the 2007 smoking ban in England;
- She thinks smokers are clogging up the NHS;
- She supports the introduction of plain packaging;
- My better half and I were seen as being okay to smoke because we are ‘educated’ and ‘understand the risks involved’.
We discussed everything point by point. Please interpret ‘discussed’ loosely, as outside of what I’ve just written in bullet points, she had very little to say. I did most of the talking and told her frankly yet politely how wrong she and her ilk were:
- It’s difficult to smoke anywhere now in the UK unless you own your own home; even then, you hardly dare to smoke outdoors unless you are 100% sure your neighbours are okay with it (think of the children!);
- London’s powers that be have suggested that the capital’s public parks be ‘smoke free’; renters thinking of stepping out for a crafty gasper will have many fewer places to go if a local law eventually goes through;
- I asked her if she had considered the employment discrimination against smokers — she hadn’t;
- I asked her if it was right for an aged old soldier to have to stand outside a private club to have a smoke — she hadn’t thought about it but agreed I had a point;
- I asked if she had thought about all the lost friendships and vanished camaraderie the smoking ban brought, especially to the elderly — she hadn’t;
- We are sick and tired of being constantly portrayed as selfish, inconsiderate, morally derelict, stinky, generally disagreeable and that people we meet are surprised to discover we smoke — as was she;
- I explained that the shocking cigarette packet photos are fake and told her that lungs inside a dead smoker are pink;
- I told her that most smokers will never get lung cancer, die grisly deaths in hospital and that a fair number of us are on track to see to see our 100th birthday.
I didn’t go on to ask if she favoured dope smoking or hard drugs over cigarettes. There’s a simple reason for that; she couldn’t — or wouldn’t — respond much beyond saying, ‘No, that’s not true’ and ‘Mmm’. She was remarkably tight-lipped.
Overall, she seemed really stunned to be confronted by — gasp — a smoker.
There were a few more things which bear elaboration.
Considering that smokers pay so much in sin tax, I told her that we resented paying her and Tobacco Control’s salaries only to be endlessly harassed and preyed upon — audibly (televisual nagging), emotionally and financially.
She told me I was wrong: how could my better half and I possibly pay her salary when the government contributed to it. I asked her how the government gets its money. She said nothing. This woman went to one of the world’s top universities and does not understand that simple point? Perhaps she does now.
I said that if she really wanted to help people, she really should go into another line of work. I asked her once again, ‘Why smoking?’ All she could say was, ‘I really want to help people.’
At that point, I gave up.
This was a social occasion at a top London venue, incidentally. We were near the main refreshments table. When I turned around, the catering staff had been listening intently. For a moment, it seemed as if they were going to burst into applause.
I said what I had to say. It has been bubbling up for nearly 20 years.
And now, it’s off my chest and my bucket list! Happy days!
29 comments
October 29, 2015 at 10:51 pm
john in cheshire
CM, thanks. As you no doubt have gathered, I don’t smoke but I am adamant that all things should be voluntary unless, such as murder, they directly affect others. I’m sick and tired of the socialist minority dictating to us what we should and shouldn’t do. Normal, as opposed to the abnormal socialists, people would not stop anyone smoking. I’d probably agree to the proprietors of public premises choosing to be smoking or non-smoking and I’d probably go to the non-smoking establishments. But if there was some good live music in a smoking pub, I wouldn’t hesitate to go there. I’m old enough to remember smokey cinemas, pubs and restaurants. I’m not unhappy that most places I go to are smoke free but I have fond memories of those other places; the Band on the Wall in Manchester, for example.
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October 30, 2015 at 9:13 am
churchmouse
Thanks, John!
The smoking ban and related anti-tobacco measures (e.g. plain packaging) are, I think, a testing ground for property rights. These measures has been accomplished shrewdly as they relate to a product seen to be antithetical to good health and one that is used by only a fifth of the British populace. In other words, the majority of Britons will say — and have said — ‘So what? Get over it’.
There is no reason why pubs should not have remained smoking or non-smoking establishments. Of course, the government feared — and fears — that most pubs would have allowed smoking. Most of the thousands that have closed since 2007 would be open today if that choice had been allowed. What this measure showed was that the government can dictate what takes place on private property.
The same principle applies to a prohibition on smoking in private, company-owned vehicles — another provision of the 2007 ban. What place has a government in saying what mustn’t take place in a company car or lorry? None.
Now we have the 2015 ban on smoking in private, family-owned vehicles where young children are passengers.
The next thing to come is plain packaging, due in 2016. What right has a government to dictate on the appearance of a box of cigarettes? None. The design — branding, as marketers call it — is a company’s intellectual property.
At any rate, packaging has little effect on what brand people buy. These days, most smokers opt for the cheapest. There is another aspect to this which is incomprehensible: illicit drugs, highly desirable for some people, come in clear plastic bags. In both cases — tobacco or illicit drugs — ‘packaging’ has little to do with product demand. People want something or they don’t.
I doubt we have seen the end of this.
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November 5, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Supergran
You know what CM? Ive worked for a council for years n years. Woe betide if you EVER discriminated against a MINORITY. They cherry-pick the bleedin minorities now!! You call ANY minority in this land a dirty, smelly outcast and you would go to jail~!!!! Nuff said
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November 5, 2015 at 9:59 pm
churchmouse
Thanks, Supergran!
Sadly, smokers — another minority — just happen to be people discreetly enjoying their tobacco, not engaging in illicit drugs.
It is now rare for drug users to be criticised — at all.
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October 30, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Frank Davis
‘I really want to help people.’
And worst of it is that she probably really does! I’ve begun to think that all the ill in the world is done by do-gooders like her, as they blunder around ‘helping people’ in ways that actually do enormous harm to them.
But no doubt she belongs to a community where they’re all congratulating each other daily on how much good they’re doing, and how much they’re ‘helping people’, and encouraging each other to ‘help’ them even more.
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October 30, 2015 at 4:56 pm
nisakiman
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Frank.
A good number of the people like CM’s lady have been completely brainwashed by the anti-smoking propaganda, and they really do think that they are helping people (remember, according to the great and the good in Tobacco Control, 70% of smokers want to quit). They also truly believe that someone who smokes will drop dead at 50, riddled with lung disease, having coughed up their guts for the ten years previously, costing the NHS millions in the process.
The anti-smoking propaganda machine has been on full throttle for a few decades now, well oiled with massive funding, and even intelligent, well educated people have been comprehensively gulled. They can’t bring themselves to consider that TC (who are ‘experts’, after all) lie about the perceived dangers of smoking as a matter of course, and so they swallow it all, hook, line and sinker.
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October 31, 2015 at 11:27 am
churchmouse
Frank and nisakiman — thank you for your comments!
Another point to add is that Tobacco Control do not know any smokers. It is easy to objectify a group of people with whom one has no contact.
Think of people of other races or faiths to one’s own. The behaviours and public policies towards smokers would never, ever be tolerated towards a minority group.
Tobacco Control may say they are against the act of smoking, but, as we know, in reality, everything they do demonises the smoker.
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October 30, 2015 at 1:09 pm
harleyrider1978
She’s living in a selective hearing mode. and total denial of fact.
No help for her until she looses her job and the bans are repealed,then she will have a very rude awakening. The bans will al be repealed they always get repealed just like everytime they’ve been tired.
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October 31, 2015 at 11:28 am
churchmouse
I live in hope, harleyrider!
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October 30, 2015 at 2:42 pm
michaeljmcfadden
If I was there and I had a medal I would have pinned it on your chest!
WAY TO GO CHURCHMOUSE!!!!!
🙂
MJM
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October 31, 2015 at 11:30 am
churchmouse
Thanks very much, Michael — greatly appreciated!
I wish everyone commenting here could have been with me to contribute to that conversation!
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October 31, 2015 at 1:16 pm
cigarbabe
Hear hear Churchmouse!
Perhaps we should nominate you best smoker/truth teller of the year?
Seriously why aren’t we vapers and smokers out protesting in the streets yet? Every day we see them imposing more laws and punitive measures on us without any basis in scientific fact and we keep letting them get away with it.
I’m damned sick to death of TC and their cronies and gang of lying bastards.
The WHO,FDA & CDC along with “*Standon Glans” are some of the worst people alive to date. Anyone else except these sociopaths else would feel guilty about all the harms and disservice they do to us?
* Standon Glans is a twitter account mocking Stanton Glantz worst pretend doctor of Public Health ever!
C.B.
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October 31, 2015 at 1:51 pm
churchmouse
Thanks, cigarbabe, for enjoying the post and commenting!
Thank you also for your kind nomination! I wish more of us were able to meet these people face to face.
Did you see my post on sports champions from the 1930s who smoked?
I agree with you about public protest. There was a successful one a few years ago here in the town of Stony Stratford where a councillor wanted to ban smoking on the streets. He backed down after a few dozen smokers gathered in the town centre. They went to the pub later to give speeches and enjoy a pint. A good time was had by all.
I wonder, though, how well protests would go in big cities. There is the high probability of violence from anti-smokers. Some of them are violent.
The best thing is to continue to write, write, write about the subject, depressing as it is. Do you have a blog? If not, you could start one and blog once a week or so. It does take a lot of time. People — especially non-smokers — need to be informed.
Saw the parody Twitter account — too funny!
It’s pathetic that Stanton Glantz has turned San Francisco into such a no-go area for smokers. Some are physically assaulted, and everyone takes part, from middle class matrons to minority groups. For a perspective from someone who lives there, see Tom’s comment on this Dick Puddlecote post:
http://dickpuddlecote.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/outdoor-intolerance.html
We still don’t know why Stanton Glantz became such an angry anti-smoker, do we? It would be nice if he and other TC folks at least said why they devote their lives to this unworthy aim.
Even the woman I spoke to couldn’t say why a) she disliked smoking and b) why she joined TC!
As for outdoor intolerance, take a few minutes to scan the UK’s Manifesto Club campaign document:
Click to access Outdoorsmokingbansreport.pdf
I can only write about smoking issues in October when the NHS runs its Stoptober campaign. It really gets me down, so I write a lot about health issues and food in general.
Next week I will have posts on the poor food we have in North America and the UK: looks great, has little to no nutritional value. Soil enrichment is a cause for people to get involved in, although there is no ‘movement’ per se.
If the thousands of Tobacco Control people left their current posts and campaigned vigorously for improved soil, we would be the healthiest people since the end of the 19th century. We would see the end of cancer, heart disease, tooth decay and more.
I appreciate your stopping by. Look forward to hearing from you again!
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October 30, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Chris Price
It’s always good for a giggle when someone says something about ‘government money’. The government doesn’t have any money. They have my money, and yours, dear.
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October 31, 2015 at 11:33 am
churchmouse
Indeed!
I find it occurs a lot with people in the public sector, oddly enough. I have a friend who is a state school teacher. She still hasn’t got her head around this one, and she is in her mid-50s. I’ve given up trying to explain.
Thank you for your comment.
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October 31, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Flyinthesky
I have a close friend who is a retired civil servant, I asked her where her pension payments came from, She replied by saying from what current civil servants pay in of course. I said can you not see anything fundamentally wrong with that? I said your pension should be paid as it is in the real world, based on your and funded out of “your” contributions not the people who are paying in now. She couldn’t grasp the concept.
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November 1, 2015 at 9:42 am
churchmouse
The mind boggles.
Public sector employees really do live in a bubble.
And now there is this notion that state pensions — which people have paid for during their careers — are ‘benefits’. Is that official government policy or some meme circulating online? Unbelievable.
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October 31, 2015 at 12:13 am
The Right Stuff | Frank Davis
[…] was going to write something about Churchmouse’s very interesting piece about an encounter with an antismoking activist, but I’m far too sleepy to do that […]
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October 31, 2015 at 11:36 am
churchmouse
Thanks, Frank.
A few years ago you wrote on the nature of public schools. Eton cropped up, and I said I’d give you their view on whether they were elitist. I shall try to write a piece before the end of the year. I have three or four issues of the Tatler School Guide to consult in this regard, which, I hope, will be of interest.
Enjoy your weekend.
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October 31, 2015 at 2:17 pm
lleweton
Great piece CM. I’ve put a bravo on a link to it by one of our friends on Facebook. It’ll probably be received by a barrage of silence and a small amount of lofty hostility. Many regards.
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November 1, 2015 at 9:47 am
churchmouse
Thank you, Llew — greatly appreciated!
‘Lofty hostility’ — isn’t that the truth?!
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November 1, 2015 at 5:46 pm
lleweton
It’s a granite wall of judgmentalism. Echoes of C.S.Lewis: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” (‘The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment’ 1949.
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November 1, 2015 at 11:02 pm
churchmouse
That’s a great quote, Llew, one which bears repeating — endlessly!
I hope we never discover that there was a grand collusion of several ‘sectors’ — TC, Big Pharma, maybe even Big Tobacco (selling tobacco fields to Big Pharma) — to arrive at a poorly-drawn, deliberate conclusion in this regard.
Yes, it is ‘a granite wall of judgmentalism’, to be sure.
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October 31, 2015 at 3:50 pm
Smudger
Very revealing and very depressing. The blinkered – blind, in truth – viewpoint of a supposedly educated, professional meddler explains a great deal about the state “we’re” in.
I’d have just asked her what parts of “legal product” and “free country” she didn’t understand.
Thank you for breaking through the bubble on all our behalf, Churchmouse. Hopefully some of what you said penetrated her thick head.
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November 1, 2015 at 9:46 am
churchmouse
You’re most welcome, Smudger! Thank you for your comment.
Yes, it was both revealing and depressing. I hope she thought about the conversation, but she might be too far down the path to contemplate changing her views.
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October 31, 2015 at 6:13 pm
caprizchka
Reblogged this on caprizchka and commented:
Handy reference article to read while smoking without the slightest bit of guilt for one’s habit.
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November 1, 2015 at 9:30 am
churchmouse
Thank you for reading and for the reblog — greatly appreciated!
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November 1, 2015 at 1:28 am
My encounter with Tobacco Control | Churchmouse Campanologist | The Last Furlong
[…] Source: My encounter with Tobacco Control | Churchmouse Campanologist […]
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November 1, 2015 at 9:31 am
churchmouse
Note to readers: please do not cut and paste an entire post of mine! Deplorable!
Reblog and excerpts are fine. Thank you!
The Last Furlong has since amended the post as requested — thank you kindly!
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